Pages

Thursday, July 17, 2014

DENSI2014: Day 3 & 4

WOW! That does not even begin to sum up the last 2 days. The DEN community never stops to amaze me with the talent and support. Today was the first day of scheduled sessions. There were 4 sessions (each an hour long). Attendees chose from a list of topics (4-5 each session) to learn about. Topics ranged form Ice Breakers, to Coding; from Story Telling to STEM: from Grant Writing to Miniature Green Screen, and so much more. The list was amazing. Choosing which session to attend was difficult as there were always too many each session I wanted to see! The good news is, in typical DEN style, there is a collaborative Google Document with notes. These are added by each attendee as the sessions took place, added later, and some (like mine) will be added when DENSI is finished.

The amazing thing about a conference such as this is the connections made. The DEN is not just a tech conference where attendees sit in the audience and listen to someone "tell" them something new. It is collaborative. We learn together, talk together, eat together, and sit and have amazing casual conversations together. It is truly unlike anything experienced at any other conference. You may be in a session listening to someone talk about DE Streaming in one session, then sitting next-to/collaborating with that same presenter in the next session about Google Tours, only to have that same presenter in the audience at your session later. Learning is full circle with the DEN!

My wife (also at this conference) often declared I have "Fan Boy" issues. Well...maybe I do...ok...I DO! There is just something magical about eating lunch with phenomenal tech leaders like Dave Tchozewski and Kristy Vincent, then helping drive Adam Bellow to his hotel and chatting the whole way, only later to spend 2 hours doing the DENmazing Race with Kathy Schrock as a teammate. Don't forget about asking for Google Teacher Academy application tips from Dennis Grice, getting geo cache help from Mark Case, or discussing coding or running with Lea Anne Daughrity. Then there is the fun conversations with David Fisher, chats with 81Dash web tool designer Carlos Fernandez, creating a MaKey MaKey with Steve Dembo, the passion and emotion Tim Childers brings to the room, and SO many more that I just can't list! There are just so many amazing, published, "famous", caring, compassionate, and talented people that make the DEN what it is! This collection of people just does not happen in the real world. Well...It is a good thing this is NOT the real world! This is the DEN family, and this is DENSI 2014!